(8a) I desire, then, that in every place the men should pray…
Paul here continues his thought regarding prayer. Prayer is the loving response of the Church to the world which hates her, because the Church once hated the Savior who loved her and died for her.
Paul concludes that since God’s love is without condition, the men should be praying in every place without distinction. And indeed, they are men in every place now, since God has loved all nations without distinction.
It’s interesting that he settles on the men here. Perhaps men have a greater tendency not to pray and need the exhortation. Regardless, men need to see unconditional and loving prayer for the world as a necessity. And they need to do it.
And we should note that the verb used for ‘pray’ is a continuous verb. In other words, men should be continuously praying in every place.
And here we see the heart of God – who desires that men should pray in every place, speaking to him, worshiping him, showing their dependence on him, honoring him.
(8b) …lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling…
Here Paul describes what the men’s prayers are to look like. The expression ‘lifting holy hands’ denotes how prayer is to be done – with one’s hear turned toward the God who is in heaven, knowing that we are creatures on earth. We are to turn our attention and desires and trust to him.
And the hands that we are to lift must be holy, or in other words, dedicated to God’s service. Our lives are to be dedicated to God. But hands don’t turn our attention to motive – they turn our attention to actions.
In other words, we are to approach God in prayer, living a holy life. We are not to hypocritically turn to God in prayer, expecting things from him, if we are not living for him.
God further explains how prayers are to look: without anger or quarreling. He of course doesn’t mean that people were coming to him angry or arguing with him – but with each other. Men, particularly.
Anger is a massive theme in scripture, and we see that it doesn’t accomplish the righteousness that God desires. But we also see anger and prayer linked together as a hypocritical combination.
Consider James 4:1-4: “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”
Anger on earth shows us where our treasure lies – on earth. Why, if our motives are earthbound, would we approach God and ask for heavenward things? We wouldn’t! And so Paul instructs us – but particularly men – how to pray. Our deeds should be holy, our desires should be heavenward, and our relationships should be peaceful – otherwise our prayers will be hypocritical.
We could also say that relational strife is an indicator of where our hearts are – and where our relationships with God are.
And so we must commit to peace as we come to God, seeking his will to be done on earth through us. And then we must do it.
Summary:
1) Men everywhere should be living lives of continuous, public prayer.
2) This prayer is a response to the unconditional love of God, asking for the unconditional love of God to be extended to others.
3) Prayer is to be accompanied by holy deeds.
4) Prayer is to be accompanied by relational peace.
5) Our deeds and relationships are indicators of where our motives lie.
Prayer:
Holy God, you deserve prayer to be extended to you from every place on earth all the time. I’ve sinned against you. I’ve been self-dependent, forgetting that every blessing given to me is by your unconditional love. I’ve been self-absorbed, desiring things on earth to make me happy. Thank you for the cleansing from sin purchased by Jesus’ blood for even the chief of sinners. Thank you for forgiveness. Cause me to do the works you’ve prepared for me to do. Cause me to desire nothing like I desire your name to be honored in all of creation. Father, thank you for your love, given freely to us in the Son, applied to us in your Spirit.
Amen.
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